To get out ahead of Senate Bill 853 making a clean sweep on the Senate floor, Governor Tina Kotek directed the practice of reimbursing state employees commuting from out-of-state. Chief Operating Officer and interim Director of the Department of Administrative Services Berri Leslie announced the plan to end the pandemic-era practice of reimbursing employees who work remotely, including those who work out-of-state to travel to their offices in Oregon.

Oregon law encourages state agencies to allow employees to telecommute when telecommuting provides an opportunity for improved employee performance, reduced commuting miles, or agency savings. This law applies to state agencies in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Each state agency is required to adopt written policies defining telecommuting criteria. Telecommuting is defined as working from an "employee's home or from an office near the employee's home, rather than from the principal place of employment."

Under the revised policy, which returns to Oregon’s remote work guidelines pre-pandemic, state employees will continue to be allowed to work remotely as approved by their agencies. However, remote employees will no longer be reimbursed for commuting to the office. This policy will go into effect on September 1, 2023, which will enable DAS to properly prepare and provide notice to employees about changes to the remote work policy around reimbursement.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

SB 853 was introduced with 57 bipartisan sponsors simply banning costs of travel to or from Oregon for an employee in state service who telecommutes. With that much support, it might be questioned what went on in back rooms to amend the bill to exempt positions authorized under terms of collective bargaining agreements. They also added an exemption allowing state payment of travel costs to and from Oregon for state employees who telecommute from principal work site located less than sixty miles from the Oregon border. The bill further allows for exemption when essential requirements of telecommuting employee's position necessitate employee telecommuting from principal work site outside of Oregon.

It seems that the bill simply provided leverage to get Governor Kotek to terminate the pandemic practice and doesn’t prevent the situation from reoccurring.

Leslie said, “We must ensure that state resources are used effectively to serve Oregonians and that our policies reflect the evolving needs of our workforce and the public. Employees will continue to be allowed to work remotely as approved by their state agencies. We look forward to implementing this change and continuing to refine our policies to meet the needs of our state employees.”


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-04-04 14:18:35

Last Update: 2023-04-04 00:41:43